NEW YORK (dpa-AFX) – The Dow Jones Industrial struggled to continue its record hunt on Monday. The US benchmark index had reached an all-time high of around 32,931 points in early trading and was recently minimally in the red at 32,766.16 points.
The optimism about the corona aid package for the US economy signed by US President Joe Biden and better than experts expected economic data initially put people in a good mood. Surprisingly, the mood in New York industrial companies brightened significantly in March. Nonetheless, the momentum in the Dow subsided again as trading continued.
The market-wide S&P 500 stepped almost on the spot at 3942.86 points. The technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 advanced 0.35 percent to 12,983.17 points.
From a company perspective, pharmaceutical companies were the focus at the beginning of the week. For example, Eli Lilly’s shares fell by almost nine percent, bringing up the rear in the S&P 500. Study data on an Alzheimer’s drug had disappointed.
GenMark Diagnostics shares went up 29 percent to $ 23.87. Roche plans to acquire the company for US $ 24.05 per share. The transaction is a small but sensible acquisition for the Swiss pharmaceutical company and expands its diagnostics portfolio, wrote analyst Michael Leuchten from the major Swiss bank UBS. GenMark offers molecular diagnostic tests designed to detect multiple pathogens from a single patient sample. The shares of Roche were recently listed in Zurich 1.6 percent in the plus.
Alibaba’s papers, in turn, lost 1.6 percent. According to a press report, the Chinese Internet giant is under pressure to sell part of its stakes in media companies. The Chinese government is concerned about the company’s influence on public opinion in the country, reported the Wall Street Journal, referring to people familiar with the matter./la/fba
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